Centre for a Smart Future (CSF)

An interdisciplinary think tank advancing public policy ideas based on our own research, with a global network of practitioners, researchers, and advisors.

[Centre for a Smart Future (CSF) @CSFasia]

As the 114th @ilo ILC begins, here’s our op-ed in #SriLanka’s leading daily business paper https://t.co/rrwt0VzyGX with some important messages for platform companies too

[Centre for a Smart Future (CSF) @CSFasia]

What do we owe the workers who deliver our food, drive us home, and keep informal logistics running, yet exist largely outside the protections we afford everyone else? | Our @TimesOnlineLK op-ed ahead of this week’s @ilo 114th Int’l Labour Conference
https://t.co/R5HWiGPwmY

[Centre for a Smart Future (CSF) @CSFasia]

We are excited to celebrate 5 years of advancing research and advocacy that shapes a more just, inclusive, and sustainable future for Sri Lanka! We are committed to influencing public policies that are more people-centric and nature-centric. https://t.co/tMavUDzjFh

[Centre for a Smart Future (CSF) @CSFasia]

An unforgiving global economy calls for a more ambitious agenda for #SriLanka to build trade resilience and competitiveness. Our media statement this week urged public and private sectors to work closer together to chart a stronger path forward https://t.co/HojRuZptni

[Centre for a Smart Future (CSF) @CSFasia]

In our media statement this week, we called on the government to:
🌟Appoint a national champion on trade
🌟Be more ambitious on export strategy implementation
🌟Take a more coherent approach to FDI promotion

https://t.co/HojRuZptni

[Centre for a Smart Future (CSF) @CSFasia]

#SriLanka cannot afford slow progress on trade, exports, and FDI, as the economy faces an unforgiving global economic environment. Our media statement yesterday called for greater ambition, better strategic coordination, and accelerating implementation https://t.co/VEqKIR5JnT

[Centre for a Smart Future (CSF) @CSFasia]

In a Policy Note last year we outlined EIGHT priority areas around trade, exports, and FDI. Little progress has been made on most of them. Meanwhile, Asian peers have been proactive, strategic, and ambitious with their trade policies and export strategies https://t.co/XPiBBPAfVT

[Centre for a Smart Future (CSF) @CSFasia]

The price of slow progress is rising. Sri Lanka’s trade, exports, and FDI agenda needs an urgent refresh and acceleration. Read our sharp Media Release published in today’s @FTSriLanka. Private and public sector stakeholders must work together proactively https://t.co/HojRuZptni

[Centre for a Smart Future (CSF) @CSFasia]

Global economic uncertainty is putting new pressures on the Sri Lankan economy, on top of existing weaknesses - undiversified exports, limited FDI, poor border efficiency, low firm-level competitiveness. Our Policy Note highlighted 8 priorities for action https://t.co/x8mjKCXjyE

[Centre for a Smart Future (CSF) @CSFasia]

We are excited to be partnering with the FutureWorks Asia initiative to study the impacts of climate change - specifically heat - on urban outdoor work. Our research across several sites in the Western Province will also inform meaningful public and private adaptation solutions.

[LIRNEasia @LIRNEasia]

𝗖𝗹𝗶𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘂𝗿𝗯𝗮𝗻 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸 𝗶𝗻 𝗦𝗿𝗶 𝗟𝗮𝗻𝗸𝗮

Extreme heat is no longer a distant threat. It is affecting health, income, and daily life, reshaping labour markets and working conditions in cities, especially for outdoor and informal workers. This study by the Centre for a Smart Future (@CSFasia) explores how climate change is transforming urban workers’ livelihoods in Sri Lanka by examining the gender, health, and economic costs of extreme heat on outdoor workers in Colombo and its suburbs.

This project is one of seven research projects guided by LIRNEasia under the second grant cycle of the @FutureworksAsia initiative, part of the FutureWORKS Collective. It is a global effort supported by the International Development Research Centre (@IDRC_CRDI) that aims to build inclusive work futures across the Global South. Stay tuned to learn more about the other grantee projects.

#ClimateChange #ExtremeHeat #FutureOfWork #UrbanWorkers #FutureWORKSAsia

[Centre for a Smart Future (CSF) @CSFasia]

Business & Human Rights is no longer a question of whether - but how. In Sri Lanka, where export sectors are deeply tied to global value chains, expectations are shifting from commitments to accountability. Read and understand more on this evolving agenda https://t.co/nDoMMSJquG

[Centre for a Smart Future (CSF) @CSFasia]

As demand for housing accelerates, real estate development is increasingly drawn towards Colombo's suburbs. But weak urban planning and shrinking green spaces is making the city more vulnerable to flooding, heat stress, and other climate risks. Learn more: https://t.co/1DfbI2fIt0

[The Economist @TheEconomist]

The greatest challenge for Asia’s metropolises is a shortage of decent and affordable housing. Fixing that would improve millions of lives. To find out how, register to continue reading (it’s free) https://t.co/cxGXTYwbmw

[Centre for a Smart Future (CSF) @CSFasia]

This is the second such effort in the last few years - https://t.co/9GIGmHLbPm and no doubt it will once again focus on the role of digital in delivering education. But as CSF had flagged then too, beyond buzzwords, digital inclusion must be a key focus https://t.co/lSrWUCtGcE

[Centre for a Smart Future (CSF) @CSFasia]

Whether it is extreme heat or heavy rain, gig workers in our city must deliver. For too long, platform economies have grown by transferring risk downward, but increasingly this approach is under sharper scrutiny, writes CSF researcher Stephanie Nicolle. https://t.co/KnuIRxfXAi

[Centre for a Smart Future (CSF) @CSFasia]

Have Real Estate Developers Reduced Colombo’s Wetlands to an ‘Amenity’? | Read our recent op-ed to understand what we mean https://t.co/Iytn9Eeo8o

[Centre for a Smart Future (CSF) @CSFasia]

(3/3) a year long period of heightened trade policy uncertainty, which many studies have shown has impacts on exporters from developing countries. CSF's study on exporters in #SriLanka unpacked the impacts across multiple dimensions https://t.co/t5NigRdyKy

[Centre for a Smart Future (CSF) @CSFasia]

US tariffs shot down + new tariffs imposed - trade policy uncertainty continues, with implications for developing countries! It's timely to revisit our study on trade policy uncertainty published last year, and now published by @South_Centre, Geneva https://t.co/4aLfCVdRF2 (1/3)

[Centre for a Smart Future (CSF) @CSFasia]

The US Supreme Court has shot down President Trump's 'Liberation Day' tariffs (issued under a 1977 economic emergencies Act) calling it unlawful. In response, a new 10% global tariff has been immediately imposed by the US administration under a different law. This continues (2/3)

[Centre for a Smart Future (CSF) @CSFasia]

Protecting Colombo’s wetlands requires integrated planning, clear accountability, enforceable laws, and an end to development narratives that reduce complex ecosystems to real estate branding | Deep-dive in our recent report for findings & recommendations https://t.co/1DfbI2fIt0

[Centre for a Smart Future (CSF) @CSFasia]

🌿Wetlands Day 2026 | Colombo’s wetlands are being marketed as lifestyle amenities, while quietly being erased. Our recent report shows a contradiction: “green living” sells at a premium, while ecosystems that make neighbourhoods valuable are being filled, fragmented & encroached

[Centre for a Smart Future (CSF) @CSFasia]

Wetlands are not empty land banks - they are valuable climate infrastructures �� cooling our city, absorbing flood waters, storing carbon, and sustaining biodiversity | Read our op-ed Have Real Estate Developers Reduced Colombo’s Wetlands to an ‘Amenity’? https://t.co/Iytn9Eeo8o